Replies

The problem is that howeas can't survive on their own at the small strip of Lord Howe stretching at sea level. They don't tolerate full sun until they are adult. Their habitat is the very special rainforest on the slopes of Mt. Lidgbird and Mt. Gower (in the picture, as most of the time, under the clouds), 500 m above sea level.

Really? A website on Lord Howe Island begs to differ:

http://www.lordhoweisland.info/environ/article1.html

These include four species of palm, the best known being Howea forsteriana, which forms dense lowland forests in some areas.So now both your palm and your coral theories are toast. Oh, well, back to the drawing board. Maybe you can play the Mississippi River gambit next time.

Let's first fully realise how small the area below 400 m altitude is :
http://www.lordhoweisland.info/skeoch9_jpg_view.htm
... and that the temperature difference between these two worlds is not only due to altitude but also to the extreme sunshine difference, like the cover

photo for this thread also perfectly illustrated
http://www.lordhoweisland.info/skeoch8_jpg_view.htm

palms in habitat, in altitude
http://www.lordhoweisland.info/skeoch13_jpg_view.htm

planted palms - even as adult and under the shadow of (introduced) Norfolk Island Pine it has burnt fronds
http://www.lordhoweisland.info/skeoch3_jpg_view.htm

no palms growing spontaneously in this islet
http://www.lordhoweisland.info/skeoch2_jpg_view.htm

Howea forsteriana in lowlands were planted, after being grown in nurseries in the shade.
It's the only palm that is planted simply because it is also the only palm whose seeds are exported.
http://www.lordhoweisland.info/environ/kentia.html

Anyway, for the palms example, I made the mistake of mentioning only temperatures in the introductory article. I should have stressed the cloud cover factor, which during an ice age would have been also much different.